Cellular Adaptation and Cell Necrosis

Vocabulary flashcards covering definitions and key examples from the lecture on Cellular Adaptation and Cell Necrosis.

.

Cellular Adaptation

Normally reversible structural or functional changes that allow a cell, tissue, or organ to survive prolonged exposure to adverse or exaggerated stimuli.

Physiologic Adaptation

Normal, expected cellular adjustment to routine stimuli (e.g., uterine enlargement in pregnancy, thymic involution in childhood).

Pathologic Adaptation

Cellular adjustment to harmful stimuli that may progress to disease (e.g., cardiac hypertrophy from hypertension).

Atrophy

Decrease in the size of a tissue, organ, or entire body due to shrinkage of individual cells.

Physiologic Atrophy

Normal reduction in tissue size, such as thymic involution or post-menopausal endometrial thinning or breast and muscle atrophy

Pathologic Atrophy

Size reduction from disease or lack of use, e.g., ischemic kidneys, testicular atrophy, Alzheimer brain shrinkage.

Hypertrophy

Increase in tissue or organ size due to enlargement of individual cells without added cell number.

Physiologic Hypertrophy

Adaptive enlargement from normal stimuli, such as skeletal muscle growth in weight training.

Pathologic Hypertrophy

Enlargement due to disease, e.g., concentric left-ventricular hypertrophy in systemic hypertension.

Hyperplasia

Adaptive increase in the number of cells causing organ or tissue enlargement.

Endometrial Hyperplasia

Estrogen-driven proliferation of endometrial glands resulting in thickened uterine lining.

Hyperplastic Polyp

Non-neoplastic proliferation of mucosal epithelium in colon or stomach forming a polypoid lesion.

Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH)

Combined hyperplasia and hypertrophy of prostate stroma and glands leading to enlarged prostate.

Metaplasia

Reversible replacement of one differentiated cell type by another better suited to a chronic environment.

Squamous Metaplasia

Transformation of ciliated columnar bronchial epithelium to stratified squamous epithelium, often from smoking.

Barrett Esophagus

Glandular (intestinal) metaplasia of distal esophageal squamous epithelium induced by acid reflux.

Dysplasia

Disordered, precancerous growth with loss of uniformity and architectural orientation.

Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia (CIN)

Graded cervical dysplasia detected by Pap smear, strongly linked to HPV infection.

Anaplasia

Undifferentiated, uncontrolled cellular growth—hallmark of malignant transformation. Cancer

Malignancy

Clinical synonym for anaplasia; includes carcinoma, cancer, neoplasm.

Cellular Pleomorphism

Variation in size and shape of cells and nuclei, a microscopic hallmark of anaplasia.

Hyperchromatic Nuclei

Dark-staining nuclei characteristic of anaplastic cells due to increased DNA content.

High N/C Ratio

Increase of nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratio (~1:1) seen in malignant cells versus normal (~1:4–1:6).

Abnormal Mitotic Figures

Atypical or numerous mitoses indicating rapid, disordered cell division in cancers.

Necrosis

Death of cells or tissues within a living organism accompanied by inflammation.

Autolysis

Self-digestion of cells after organismal death, lacking inflammatory response.

Coagulative Necrosis

Most common necrosis; proteins denature yet cell outlines preserved (e.g., myocardial infarction).

Liquefactive Necrosis

Enzymatic digestion of tissue into liquid mass, typical in brain infarcts and abscesses.

Caseous Necrosis

Cheesy, yellow necrosis combining coagulation and liquefaction, classically in tuberculosis granulomas.

Ghon Complex

Primary TB lesion with caseous necrosis in lung and draining lymph nodes.

Fat Necrosis

Lipase-mediated fat destruction producing chalky soaps around pancreas or subcutaneous fat.

Wet Gangrene

Secondary bacterial infection of necrotic tissue leading to liquefaction and foul odor.

Dry Gangrene

Mummification and blackening of necrotic tissue due to dessication without infection.

Dystrophic Calcification

Calcium salt deposition in necrotic or injured tissues despite normal serum calcium levels.

Metastatic Calcification

Calcium deposition in normal tissues due to hypercalcemia or deranged metabolism.

Atherosclerotic Calcification

Dystrophic calcium deposition within atherosclerotic plaques, narrowing coronary arteries.

Calcified Aortic Stenosis

Dystrophic calcification of aortic valve cusps causing obstructed blood flow.

Tumoral Calcifications in Breast

Dystrophic microcalcifications around breast cancer detectable by mammography.

Hyperparathyroidism

Endocrine disorder producing hypercalcemia that predisposes to metastatic calcifications.

Calcium Oxalate Stone

Metastatic calcification forming renal, gallbladder, or bladder calculi due to salt precipitation.